Carson's Savannah Smith goes up for a block against Reno on Tuesday.
Carson High’s volleyball team couldn’t stand prosperity.
The Senators gave up 11 straight points en route to losing the fourth set and let leads of 6-1 and 8-3 slip away in the decisive fifth set en route to a 17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 16-25 and 12-15 loss to Reno Tuesday night in a Division I crossover match at Morse Burley Gym.
It was a disappointing finish, as Carson won the second and third sets in exciting fashion, and appeared headed to a four-set win.
“We had the momentum on our side,” said a disappointed Robert Maw, Carson head coach. “I don’t want to say. It was due to lack of experience, but I think the girls thought they had the game won and didn’t keep pushing. I saw the same thing in the fifth set. They appeared to back off like they expected Reno to hand it to them.”
The Senators, who won the second and third sets, had a 12-9 lead in the fourth set after Juliana Anderson registered her 16th kill of the match. Morgan McGwire, daughter of former NFL quarterback Dan McGwire, stepped to the service line and helped the Huskies run off 11 straight points for a 20-12 lead. She served up three aces in the run and had a kill, and Stephanie Zunini added a kill. The Senators had three hitting errors, a bad set and a ballhandling mistake in that span. Anderson had two kills to briefly cut the lead to 21-14, but a couple of kills by Grace Corkery enabled the Huskies to close out the game. McGwire finished the match with 25 kills and a block/kill.
Thanks to two kills by Kyle Riske and an ace serve by Jaycie Roberts, Carson rolled to a 6-1 lead in the final set. However, the Huskies scored six of the next eight points in closing the deficit to 8-7. Anderson had a couple of kills for the only CHS points in the Reno surge. Carson had four hitting errors to enable Reno’s comeback.
The match was tied at 9, 10, 11 and 12 before two kills by McGwire and one by Katelyn Rocke ended the match.
In the opening set, Reno used two big runs to take control. Nine straight points wiped out a 9-6 deficit and enabled the Huskies to take a 15-9 lead. Summer Santos served up two aces and McGwire added a backrow attack. Carson was called for two net violation in that span. Carson cut the lead to 20-16, but the Huskies ended the game on a 6-1 run. McGwire, Kyra Liessmann and Brigitte Murdock contributed kills.
Carson, behind Anderson’s five kills, had an 18-13 lead in the second set. Reno stormed back with an 8-2 run for a 21-20 lead, as McGwire contributed three kills. A service error by Reno and a dink by setter Danielle Good gave Carson a 22-21 lead. Anderson closed out the set with a kill.
“Juliana played a great game and match,” Maw said “The mandate with her is to swing away and she did that. Last year she was timid.”
Reno had an 18-14 lead in the third game, but Anderson served up three aces for a 19-18 lead, The set was tied at 19 and 22 before Yana Spence (8 kills) knocked one off a Reno block, Roberts (19 digs) served up and Anna Magera had a hitting error which enabled Carson to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was tied at 4, 5, 7 and 8. Kills by Anderson and Spence helped the Senators build a 12-10 lead which is when the Senators’ game went south.
Maw was impressed by the setting of Good (38) and the floor play of Smith, who finished with 14 digs. Gaby Palazzolo added seven kills.
Carson visits Hug Thursday at 6 p.m.
